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The role of noncrystalline films in the oxidation and corrosion of metals

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Abstract

The role of oxide perfection is a major factor in controlling the rate of oxidation and corrosion of metals. Studies of the reactivity of tantalum, silicon, and amorphous metals are particularly revealing in this regard. Two states of oxide perfection are found: single crystal and vitreous. The former is seldom encountered in practice because it requires epitaxial growth of a single crystal oxide on the metal. However, bond flexibility in vitreous oxides allows them to adapt to various substrates, even polycrystalline ones. Degradation of both single crystal and vitreous oxide results in the formation of polycrystalline oxide. Here, grain boundaries provide paths for easy ion movement and resultant fast oxide growth. Stabilization of vitreous oxide involves bond strength, multiple configurations with equivalent energies, substrate effects, and purity. The control of these factors is the technological challenge to achieving more perfect, and hence more protective, oxides.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. COMSAT Laboratories, 20734, Clarksburg, Maryland

    A. G. Revesz

  2. Research and Development Laboratories, Corning Glass Works, 14830, Corning, New York

    F. P. Fehlner

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  1. A. G. Revesz
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  2. F. P. Fehlner
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Invited keynote paper, Session on Amorphous Metals and Films, Fall Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Los Angeles, California, October 1979.

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Revesz, A.G., Fehlner, F.P. The role of noncrystalline films in the oxidation and corrosion of metals. Oxid Met 15, 297–321 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01058831

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